Cops, license plate readers are obsolete. You can now track us closer.

This week, the California State Senate approved a bill that would create the nation’s first electronic license plate. Having already passed the state’s assembly, the bill now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for his signature.

The idea is that rather than have a static piece of printed metal adorned with stickers to display proper registration, the plate would be a screen that could wirelessly (likely over a mobile data network) receive updates from a central server to display that same information. In an example shown by a South Carolina vendor, messages such as “STOLEN,” “EXPIRED,” or something similar could also be displayed on a license plate.

The bill’s language says that for now, the program would be limited to a “pilot program” set to be completed no later than January 1, 2017.

“The pilot program shall be limited to no more than 0.5 percent of registered vehicles for the purpose of road testing and evaluation,” the bill states.

Other states, including South Carolina and New Jersey, also have similar bills in progress. A South Carolina company, Compliance Innovations, did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment. That company has been leading the charge in the Palmetto State to implement electronic license plates.

State isn’t getting location data directly, for now

Not surprisingly, though, privacy concerns abound. After all, if the state’s authorities can send and receive data to your digital license plate, then they have to know where you are. That would make the use of the increasingly ubiquitous license plate readers completely irrelevant—law enforcement likely would be able to either directly access location data in real-time and/or get historical travel data.

The state senator who introduced the bill, Sen. Ben Hueso, a Democrat who represents San Diego, did not respond to Ars’ multiple requests for an interview or comment. It still remains unclear as to exactly why this bill was proposed and what its objectives are. The precise technical details of the program are similarly unclear, as is how long plate information would be retained and who would have access to it.

Update Tuesday September 9, 12:00am CT: Lourdes Jimenez, Hueso's spokesperson said by e-mail that the bill would "provide this authorization and create statutory parameters for the [Department of Motor Vehicles] testing of alternative technologies, while still providing flexibility on program and testing details."

Still, privacy advocates are skeptical.

“We've been talking to Sen. Hueso on the bill, and it's gotten some amendments that address some of the location privacy issues—within the pilot, the DMV would not be receiving any location information,” Lee Tien, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Ars. “But the company that operates the plates would [have access, and] they are going to be controlling what's on the plates.”

The privacy advocate likened the proposed system to a moving wiretap that reveals an individual’s vehicle location constantly.

California leaning towards a small, unknown startup

Various local media have reported that the state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) would save $20 million in postage by not having to mail renewal stickers. The DMV did not immediately respond to Ars’ request to confirm this figure. Further, the bill—known officially as SB 806—did not originate with the DMV.

“The California Department of Motor Vehicles does not have a position on SB 806,” Artemio Armenta, a DMV spokesperson, told Ars in July 2013.

Update 7:34pm CT: Armenta also confirmed to Ars that "postage costs associated with vehicle licensing and registration does exceed $20 million annually."

But the state senate’s five-page analysis (PDF) notes that one San Francisco-based company would stand to gain from this test, particularly if it gets the green light:

A supporter of this bill is Smart Plate Mobile, a company that holds a patent on a digital electronic license plate, which is essentially a computer screen that can take on the size and appearance of a standard California license plate (i.e., a 12” by 6” white, reflectorized rectangle with blue characters and “California” in red across the top). This product also allows that screen, once a vehicle comes to a stop for four seconds or longer, to display a different image on the plate such as an advertisement. This bill does not authorize the display of anything other than the existing California license plate on a screen, but thus far it appears that Smart Plate is the company most interested in participating in such a pilot project. Smart Plate has offered to make its product available to DMV to test.

Smart Plate Mobile’s founder, Michael Jordan, declined to speak to Ars. The company's website doesn't appear to have been up since earlier in the year.

It’s unclear exactly how Smart Plate Mobile came to be mentioned in the bill's analysis for the pilot, particularly when there are other patent holders on very similar technologies, including General Motors. However, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that those previous patent holders have done much to advance their technology at the state level.

Smart Plate Mobile’s reported Sacramento lobbyist, Jim Lites, told Ars that the bill is actually about making the DMV more efficient. He added that the DMV, though, “has indicated that they only want to pilot this or other devices with fleet owners,” such as a delivery company like UPS or FedEx or something similar.

“Large fleet owners do not have any more efficient process for renewing their registration than you and I do for one or two cars,” Lites noted. “The talk has been that the efficiency is to be gained in the fleets and let's start there. Until the DMV comes up with regulations as to how they’re going to implement the pilot, it won’t affect anyone.”

Jimenez added late Monday that the state has yet to choose a vendor.

"SB 806 does not have a sponsor, nor is it tailored to any specific product," she added. "This bill simply authorizes the DMV to work with qualified vendors to test new products. If this bill passes, all vendors will have to go through a public Request for Proposals (RFP) process before DMV contracts out."

She also added that the pilot program was "not only for commercial fleets."

Still, the lobbyist also seemed to dismiss the privacy concerns, saying that ordinary citizens shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

“It just happens to coincide with the NSA issues and the surveillance cameras all over the place—this is not designed or intended to interact with that,” he said.

The EFF’s Lee Tien and other civil libertarians clearly don’t see it this way.

“We are worried about any kind of location tracking issue,” he said. “In its pilot phase, we thought that getting a bunch of privacy protections at the beginning [was the best way to go], and we're asking and requiring them to get a report to the legislature. I've talked already to the state DMV privacy officer; we're expecting to continue to monitor this [situation].”

Jimenez also noted that there are some privacy-minded "parameters."

"For example, AB 806 has the following provisions: 1) specify that the pilot is voluntary; 2) prohibit DMV to receive or retain GPS data; 3) report of all tested products and their features, specifically those that include the ability for GPS tracking," she wrote by e-mail.

181 Reader Comments

In a bid to lower state debt, the California State Senate has just passed the first ever bill which will allow advertisements on digital license plates, starting in 2022 your tracking data will be integrated into your license plate, allowing your favorite shopping websites to advertise from the comfort of your license plate to everyone sitting behind you in traffic.

If they turn my car into a mobile Viagra advert, I'm going to be pissed!

A supporter of this bill is Smart Plate Mobile, a company that holds a patent on a digital electronic license plate, which is essentially a computer screen that can take on the size and appearance of a standard California license plate...

You have to be shitting me. They have a patent that basically amounts to displaying a particular image on a screen?

Skimming through the disclosure, it looks like they vary what's displayed and at what intensity (for power saving, etc.) depending on the speed of the vehicle. Woo.

What the hell have we become?

When I read supporter and then saw the name of the company my brain switched it out with "one hell of a lobbyist"

Geesh, we can't even get the DMV computer systems to work well and they want to have electronic license plates? Riiiight. DMV was down for the better part of a day THIS WEEK because of computer issues.

Are our fearless software types capable of designing/implimenting a system that won't be hacked in (choose your appropriately small amount of time).

Boondogle but it'll be entertaining at least on some level.

Maybe they should have started with something like dog tags. With tracking. Now THAT I'd go with.

The California DMV computer contract fubars are infamous. The vendor was Lockheed. Good at military hardware, not so good with databases.

A supporter of this bill is Smart Plate Mobile, a company that holds a patent on a digital electronic license plate, which is essentially a computer screen that can take on the size and appearance of a standard California license plate...

You have to be shitting me. They have a patent that basically amounts to displaying a particular image on a screen?

Skimming through the disclosure, it looks like they vary what's displayed and at what intensity (for power saving, etc.) depending on the speed of the vehicle. Woo.

What the hell have we become?

And it has claims relating to advertisements that could be displayed. However, at this time, the patent is just an application - it isn't granted.

In a bid to lower state debt, the California State Senate has just passed the first ever bill which will allow advertisements on digital license plates, starting in 2022 your tracking data will be integrated into your license plate, allowing your favorite shopping websites to advertise from the comfort of your license plate to everyone sitting behind you in traffic.

Right now there's this system FasTrak in California where you get this electronic box and put it on your dash. You can put money in an online account, and then you can go through toll bridges and toll roads using fast lanes where it electronically reads the box and deducts from your account.

Then they got rid of the toll booths on the Golden Gate Bridge, and replaced them with this FasTrak system, backed up with license plate readers for those drivers who don't have a FasTrak.

A while back there was an idea tossed around to make any entry on -any road- into San Francisco during commute hours to be a toll road. Apparently London uses this congestion toll concept. But how the heck do you enforce this unless everyone has FasTrak?

As you can see, electronic plates start to look great to the lawmakers. There are all kinds of ways they can start charging tolls.

Note that I have a bias against FasTrak because I didn't use it too often, so they cancelled it on me and I ended up losing $15 in my account. Trying to deal with the bureaucracy to get this straightened out is like living in a Kafka novel. I'm just considering it money lost into a black hole. As you can see, I CAN'T WAIT for these electronic plates, so I can deal with mysterious bureaucratic charges on a daily basis!

Such a cynical lot you guys are. I think this is quite a good idea. A large, color-e-ink display in a Gorilla Glass cover, solar-powered with an on-board FM Radio receiver (possibly hooked up to the car's antenna) for updates would do the trick nicely.

Using FM means one-way signaling, which eliminates any location-tracking privacy concerns. Updates can be broadcast on a cycle 24/7, much like satellite TV companies do with encryption updates.

Proper use of Trusted Computing technology and locked bootloaders on the display devices will make hacking unfeasible.

In time, the required gear can be built into the car itself, providing much more robust protection against damage and eliminating the logistical costs of handling the portable gear.

Everything becomes more efficient; everyone saves money and time. No more waiting for new plates or stickers to arrive in the mail. No more stamping, destroying, recycling or shipping plates. And drivers would have reliable information about other drivers' license and insurance status, which would help them make better decisions on the road.

Here's the problem with that thinking1. The constitution doesn't delineate your rights, it delineates the powers the government has. Unless the constitution says you can't do it, then you can. Unfortunately you are correct that legal precedent (wrongly IMO) says driving is a priviledge.

2. This sort of thinking says that air travel isn't a right, ground travel isn't a right, then what's left? Walking? That's like saying you have freedom of speech, as long as you don't write it down, print it out, post it on the internet.

If our rights are being limited by the *technology* we use to express them, then what's the point of keeping the government that is supposed to protect them?

You're right to travel by land isn't being restricted, rather you're right to operate a highly dangerous piece of equipment that kills thousands of people each year is

here we go again with the wanton idiocy, we are fed up with the government snooping and what do they do? they find another way to spy on us even more! Now correct me if I'm wrong here but has anyone thought about how stupid it is the idea to have a screen and a cellphone draining our battery continuously just to save a few dollars on stickers and postage? these will get hacked for sure rendering them useless. I can see thieves committing crimes with hacked plates, good luck finding them. meanwhile regular citizens get tracked without problem. coming back to the cost saving argument I call bullshit on that, there is no way implementing such a system is cheaper than a metal plate and a sticker even with the postage stuff included. this more or less shifts the cost on us by forcing us to keep the thing working and For what? surely the infrastructure needed to operate this will balloon way beyond what they promise rendering the whole point moot. sigh...

on second thought I'd love to have one hacking it to display a middle finger image to people tailgating me could be hilarious and disabling the GPS should be easy, low cost equipment rarely has good security.

This is GREAT news! With the increasing prevalence of license plate scanners, I've been wanting a way to hide my plate any time it isn't absolutely required. Basically it is only necessary when driving on public roadways. With one of these (or more likely a cheap Chinese knock-off that is visually indistinguishable) I will be able to "turn off" my license plate anytime it isn't strictly mandated. Even better I don't have to turn it off and set it blank, I can just put up some other number that changes every single time I park and no one will even notice it isn't my real plate number.

I'm sure they will make it illegal to use a un-sanctioned (or hacked) plate, but how will they know it isn't a kosher plate if it displays a legit number most of the time?

PS - next on my wish list is electro-chromic paint-jobs on cars. Today I am driving a red car, tomorrow it is blue.

Simple the plate will have a RFID tag that broadcasts a serial number.

So some kind of personal favor to the owner's of this company and patent? This seems clearly illegal to me, as the Supreme Court has already ruled that tracking cars without a warrant violates the constitution. Even if this passes it will be sued out of existence.

So some kind of personal favor to the owner's of this company and patent? This seems clearly illegal to me, as the Supreme Court has already ruled that tracking cars without a warrant violates the constitution. Even if this passes it will be sued out of existence.

The plan as envisioned doesn't included any ability to track you, but as chances are it will use an off the shelf method to communicate it will be addable

And a way around the requirement for a warrant is simple, as part of the procedure to get plates you have to agree to allow the government to track your car

You're right to travel by land isn't being restricted, rather you're right to operate a highly dangerous piece of equipment that kills thousands of people each year is

Now you're acting like cars like weapons. In that case, our uninfringeable right to own and operate highly dangerous pieces of equipment is protected by second amendment. And they're not restricting those rights at all.

You're right to travel by land isn't being restricted, rather you're right to operate a highly dangerous piece of equipment that kills thousands of people each year is

Now you're acting like cars like weapons. In that case, our uninfringeable right to own and operate highly dangerous pieces of equipment is protected by second amendment. And they're not restricting those rights at all.

Oh wait...

That would actually require recognizing cars as weapons, which is a really bad idea

Things like EZPass work just fine. No reason why electronic plates couldn't work equally as well.

if I don't want to use the EZPass, I can put it in one of those foil bags that blocks its signal. EZPass also doesn't get broken when I get plowed in and ram through the snowbank instead of waiting for the landlord to clear it with his truck, or when some drunk asshole goes down the street kicking everyone's plates.

Here's the problem with that thinking1. The constitution doesn't delineate your rights, it delineates the powers the government has. Unless the constitution says you can't do it, then you can. Unfortunately you are correct that legal precedent (wrongly IMO) says driving is a priviledge.

Further thoughts upon this

There might be some classic thinking along those lines, but it likely isn't valid anymore. The reason: If that is the way the constitution works then anything not specifically prohibited by the constitution would be legal, and I doubt the constitution contains proscriptions against murder and theft.

Functionally this means that any changes to the legal code require an amendment or some method of legislating around the constitution, such as specific authorization in the constitution for congress/the government to make laws that override some part of the constitution, now would you want the current US government to have that sort of power?

Yeah, the whole thing appears to be a boondongle on a couple of levels, on one it's the semi-standard case of some poli trying to do something nice for a company with government money and on another it seems to be a result of the high-tech craze of the last few year, we're getting smart watches and glasses, why not plates?

Do you know why I pulled you over tonite?No, officer.You have a broken license plate.Damnit, no, I can't afford a ticket.

Right there is why this garbage is DOA. It will simply cost way more than the existing system.

Now on the other hand, if Tesla incorporates an electronic plate, flush with the car and it saves me money due to less drag and it forms part of the turn signal etc. electronics, then hell yes, lets allow companies to incorporate something that is _better_ than the current plate. This e-license plate as described sux though.

<snip>Now on the other hand, if Tesla incorporates an electronic plate, flush with the car and it saves me money due to less drag and it forms part of the turn signal etc. electronics, then hell yes, lets allow companies to incorporate something that is _better_ than the current plate. This e-license plate as described sux though.

Maybe they can modify the blinker somehow so it automatically 1) turns on before the driver changes lanes or turns or 2) turns off when they don't. Now, *THAT* sounds like a worthy problem in need of solving!

<snip>Now on the other hand, if Tesla incorporates an electronic plate, flush with the car and it saves me money due to less drag and it forms part of the turn signal etc. electronics, then hell yes, lets allow companies to incorporate something that is _better_ than the current plate. This e-license plate as described sux though.

Maybe they can modify the blinker somehow so it automatically 1) turns on before the driver changes lanes or turns or 2) turns off when they don't. Now, *THAT* sounds like a worthy problem in need of solving!

That could be possible, but it would result in a lot of false positives, simply tie the blinkers to the way the wheel is turned

A rhetorical question, why even bother with a license plate with numbers and letters on it at all? If the state really goes electronic, the Police would easily be able to identify any car just by interrogating its transponder...that's really all they would need. The state could even use the transponder to automatically pay parking, tolls, etc. It could automatically detect speeding or other traffic violations, and if tied to the ignition system, it could stop the car on demand, such as if it were stolen or fleeing from the cops. I'm not sure if I like this idea, but it seems to be the direction we're headed.

A rhetorical question, why even bother with a license plate with numbers and letters on it at all? If the state really goes electronic, the Police would easily be able to identify any car just by interrogating its transponder...that's really all they would need. The state could even use the transponder to automatically pay parking, tolls, etc. It could automatically detect speeding or other traffic violations, and if tied to the ignition system, it could stop the car on demand, such as if it were stolen or fleeing from the cops. I'm not sure if I like this idea, but it seems to be the direction we're headed.

That's probably actually better as chances are the in that case the car has a very limited transmitter, putting out something in response to requests through something like NFC

I'm sure they will make it illegal to use a un-sanctioned (or hacked) plate, but how will they know it isn't a kosher plate if it displays a legit number most of the time?

Simple the plate will have a RFID tag that broadcasts a serial number.

And how will that work exactly? Are they going to have people walking the parking lots manually checking each plate's rfid? And who is to say that I can't spoof the rfid? Clone it from the original plate, or even hack it to change to match whatever bogus but valid looking number is on the plate at any point in time?

The take-away here is that physical plates can be counterfeited but it is a real PITA to do it, you gotta keep a bunch in the car and manually switch them out. While electronic plates make counterfeiting easy and convenient because it is little more than the press of a button.

A rhetorical question, why even bother with a license plate with numbers and letters on it at all?

I think it is for us mortals in case we witness a hit and run or something. We can call the police and tell them the license number. Also, sometimes apartments give you parking and use your license plate number to see who's parking legally. A lot of things like that would suddenly stop working if there was no longer a human-readable license plate. I suppose in the future we'll all have license plate readers.